1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to refractory support devices and to refractory lined structures, and more particularly to refractory support devices for supporting a refractory liner at the intersection of two refractory lined surfaces, and to structures utilizing the support devices.
Refractory liners have been used for many years in process vessels, reactors, conduits, furnaces and the like to provide thermal insulation, and in environments such as fluidized catalytic reactors or regenerators or stacks, to provide resistance to abrasion or erosion. Such liners can serve not only to thermally insulate surfaces but also to prolong their service life by shielding them from erosion by abrasion. In fluid catalytic cracking units for petroleum hydrocarbons, quite high fluid velocities which may be on the order of 50 to 70 ft/second occur, and the abrasive effect of entrained cracking catalyst is very pronounced. Moreover, high temperatures are involved. For example, in the regenerator the temperature of gases exiting through the cyclones may be on the order of 1250.degree.-1350.degree. F. and in the reactor the temperature may be 800.degree.-900.degree. F. Accordingly, the usual practice has been to line all vessels, conduits and cyclone separators through which fluid with entrained catalyst flows with refractory liner to prevent erosion of the metal surfaces and to provide thermal insulation. To retain the refractory, which may be a refractory cement, a concrete cement-aggregate mixture, or a reinforced cement or concrete, various anchoring arrangements have been employed. Some of the presently utilized anchoring arrangements work quite well on the main surfaces of the liners, but there have been problems with the portion of the liner adjacent the edge formed by two intersecting surfaces, particularly when the surfaces intersect at varying angles along the edge, as is common in certain process equipment.
2. The Prior Art
Several approaches to anchoring refractory liners to surfaces have been used with varying degrees of success, including anchor tabs, welded studs, open mesh material, etc., but none of these approaches has been very satisfactory for anchoring the refractory at the intersecting edge where two surfaces join, particularly when the surfaces join at an angle that varies along the edge.